According to an Indian report released September 3rd, one Indian woman is murdered every hour due to dowry-related crimes, with 8,233 Indian women killed because of this in 2012 alone. Many times this is due to disagreements over dowry payments made by the bride’s family to either the groom or his family when they get married. Dowry-related deaths are just one kind of the many crimes against women in India.

India is the fourth most dangerous country to be born a woman according to a 2011 Thompson Reuters survey, and crimes against women are only increasing. In fact, in 2012 there was a 6.4 percent increase in the amount of crimes against women in India. Crimes such as rape, molestation, sexual assault, and dowry-related crimes make up the 244, 270 crimes against women reported to the police in 2012.

According to police, there is not an increase of crimes against women in India, but rather an increase in the number of reports. Police site the fact that less Indian women are staying silent about such issues in the mainly patriarchal and conservative nation and speaking out about the abuses that occur. However, women’s activists groups disagree, saying that there has been an increase in gender violence in India, a country known as the world’s largest democracy. And yet, society still sees men and women as unequal.

As far as dowry-related crimes, where the conviction rate remains at a low 32 percent, many women’s activists attribute them to the country’s growing economy, which causes a sort of commercialization of marriage.

“Marriages have become commercialized. It’s like a business proposition where the groom and his family make exorbitant demands. And the wealthier the family, the more outrageous the demands,” Indian women’s rights activist Ranjana Kumari said.

Additionally, activists and police have sited a lack of accountability as a reason for increases in dowry-related crimes, especially because of the delay in prosecutions as well as the loopholes in dowry prevention laws, since dowries are illegal in India but continue to be part of a cultural custom.
Besides dowry-related crimes, the many recent gang rapes in India have caused major media coverage and worldwide outrage.

Last December, a 23-year-old woman was gang raped and murdered in a bus by six men in Delhi, known as India’s ‘rape capital’ and the ‘most dangerous city for women’ due to it having the highest number of rapes reported in the country.

The case sparked widespread protests for better security and sparked conversation on gender inequality in India. Even more recently, a 22-year-old woman was gang raped and beaten in Mumbai on August 22.

Due to all the international media spotlights and outrage over these recent incidents, the government passed a bill in March, placing stricter penalties on men who attack women as well as creating a more efficient and responsive police force. Moreover, conviction rates have increased in some areas of India, especially in cases of sexual assault in the city of Chennai. However, Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, claimed that more needed to be done to protect Indian women.

A recent World Health Organization study has reported that the life expectancy for women over the age of 50 years has increased. Thanks to health system changes over the past 20 or 30 years, fewer women are dying for diabetes, cancer, heart disease or stroke, several of the leading causes of death among women.

Improved disease screening techniques and technology has contributed to this trend, however, healthcare services are still not as effective as the WHO would like to see. Dr John Beard, director of the World Health Organization’s Department of Aging and Life Course explained, “Changing women’s exposures at earlier stages of their lives, particularly in relation to sexual health, tobacco and harmful use of alcohol, is essential to reversing the epidemic of chronic diseases” Beard said. In other words, there is still much progress to be made.

This progress would mean a reduction in the gap between life expectancy between women living in rich and poor countries, an occurrence that the WHO emphasized in its report on women’s health. Despite higher life expectancies in developing countries, the WHO states that the gap is too large to ignore. One of the main factors contributing to this problem is preventative care. Women in the developed world are far more likely to receive routine checkups and screenings.

Women in the developing world, however, may not have access to such services and therefore only receive treatment once the disease in onset. This is an issue that will only become worse as time goes on. About 550 million women live in the developing world and by 2050, almost one fifth of the entire population will be women who are 50 years or older. Although the WHO reported positive news about the life expectancy for older women in the Third World, the massive gap between them and women in the developed world in unsettling.

A Saudi Cabinet session, chaired by Prince Muqrin Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier, Adviser and Special Envoy of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has recently approved a new law in Saudi Arabia that will ban all forms of abuse in private homes, as well as in the workplace. Until now, abuse in private homes has been considered a private matter and outside the law, permitting sexual, physical, and psychological abuse against wives and children. The new law will make this a punishable offense.

For those cases that are reported, the assailant could receive a jail sentence up to one year and a fine of $13,000. Those who have knowledge of abuse are also required to report it to officials and their anonymity is guaranteed under the law. The law is additionally intended to protect those in the workplace, both in public organizations and private ones, from exploitation.

However, under the law, women must still obtain permission from their husbands in order to report abuse. This provision shields abusive husbands from reporting. As with all laws, however, it must also be fully implemented and enforced to be effective. The Saudi legal community will need training on the law and how to apply it on a case-by-case basis.

Women must also feel comfortable enough with the legal system to feel safe reporting the abuses. This will be difficult in the still male dominated society. Shelters and psychological and medical care provided for in the law will also need funding and support from the public.

The private nature of domestic abuse in Saudi Arabia has kept it from conversation for centuries. However, this seems to be changing. Earlier this year, a powerful ad campaign was launched in Saudi Arabia portraying a woman with only her eyes showing, with one horribly blackened, and a caption reading, “Some things can’t be covered up.” Perhaps in response to this campaign conversation in Saudi society about domestic abuse has risen.

Several human rights proponents in Saudi Arabia and abroad have applauded the steps made with the passage of this law. While commending this step, they also caution that training and enforcement are key to ensuring its intentions are met.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has contributed a $625,000 grant to The Linda Norgrove Foundation in an effort to provide greater access to education and build a network of 40 libraries across the war-torn region of Afghanistan through a community literacy project called Afghanistan Reads.

Afghanistan Reads will be launched in 2013 by the Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan), a non-profit, non-religious, and non-political charity dedicated to advancing access to education for women in Afghanistan. The objective of Afghanistan Reads will be to provide 840 women with literacy classes and an estimated 20,000 people access to community libraries.

With the country having one of the lowest literacy rates in the world as a byproduct of decades of war, this grant from USAID demonstrates its continued commitment to expanding literacy and access to education to regions experiencing continual crisis and conflict.

Literate women in Afghanistan comprise less than 20 percent of the population and, according to Unicef Afghanistan, only a third of women retain literacy skills after primary school due to this lack of access to education, thus this network of libraries will focus on providing literacy schemes for women and girls.

The Linda Norgrove Foundation is a grant-giving trust with a primary objective to fund education, health and childcare for women and children affected by the war in Afghanistan. The Foundation was established in October 2010 in the memory of Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove, a 36-year old woman devoted to achieving prosperity and stability in the country during the rebuilding process. Norgrove was kidnapped in Kunar on September 26, 2010 and subsequently died in a rescue attempt by U.S. forces on October 8th. Norgrove’s parents established the foundation in an effort to continue her work of developing programs that provide greater access to education and incomes for women affected by the war.

Afghanistan Reads has four interlinked components – literacy learning, library services, capacity development for delivering library services, and life skills learning. Through these four components, the program will support community and home-based literacy classes and a network of libraries, in addition to community workshops. The ultimate goal of the program is to provide greater access to education and information that will help foster independent, lifelong learning for the women and girls in the country, and raise literacy rates which will lead to better economic opportunities for Afghan women and their families in the future.

For too long, the struggles of African women have been silenced. However, with the 2010 publication of the first contemporary anthology of female African writing, such tribulations—and subsequent triumphs– finally found a voice. The anthology, “African Women Writing Resistance,” revealed the enormous wealth of talent present in the continent’s female literary community, showcasing the depth of these incredible women who write amongst much adversity.

Self-described as “the first transnational anthology to focus on women’s strategies of resistance…in Africa today,” the anthology exhibits a wide range of African writing, including: fiction, non-fictional prose, testimonials, interviews, poems, a roundtable discussion, and a performance piece. Each engages with the transnational feminine African identity and its eclectic implications, sharing a diverse set of intimate experiences.

The anthology not only reveals the limitless potential of Africa’s women, but it also elucidates the major obstacles that these women face. It includes extensive discussions of interethnic violence, LGBT issues, rape, female genital mutialation, incest, and rampant misogyny in religious contexts. These discussions are accessible and humanizing, providing rare insights into the tumultuous existence of the African female.

As contributor Catherine Makoni writes in her Letter to My Cousin, “My personal ethos is that there are some truths that people need to be told.” Tellingly, “African Women Writing Resistance” provides an exceptional forum for these stories, these truths, and these collective aspirations. The text, in its varied content and diverse set of contributors, reinforces the exigent nature of writing such truths, particularly for African women who have thus far lived under a menacing veil of censorship and silence.

Grameen Bank is not like most other banks in the world. Indeed, it is a location that has been fighting the good fight against global poverty since its construction. Grameen Bank is located in Bangladesh, and has primarily focused on helping women leave poverty through micro-loans.

The bank originated in 1976 when Professor Muhammad Yunus began to research the idea of having a “credit delivery system” in order to allow the rural poor to have banking services. Indeed, the word Grameen itself translates to “rural” or village” in Bangla, the official language of Bangladesh.

The objectives of this Grameen Bank Project included allowing the poor to have banking facilities, putting a halt to the exploitation of the rural poor, and creating self-employment opportunities. The Bank also reduces the number of disadvantaged women and to aims to destroy the “cycle of poverty” (which basically states that a poor child will grow up to be poor and continue to have poor children, without having a chance to rise out of that poverty).

After the success of the Grameen Bank Project, the Grameen Bank was extended to more districts in Bangladesh, and eventually, in 1983, it became an independent bank that is now owned by the rural poor it serves. Indeed, the poor that borrow from the bank own 90% of it, while the other 10% is in the hands of the Bangladeshi government.

The focus of the credit delivery system is on the poorest of the poor, including women. In fact, today, the bank prioritizes helping women due to their unequal standing in society. There are several unique features to Grameen Bank’s credit delivery system, such as organizing borrowers into small groups with similar goals. This is done so that the clientele of Grameen Bank can learn to plan and implement development decisions through sending the group to centres linked to the bank.

The borrowers have a meeting at the centers each week. There are also special loan conditions aimed to help the poor; they can repay them weekly, there is no collateral, they can have more loans, transparency in interactions, and more. Each of these factors is helpful to the poor, because they are not faced with incredible interest, or having to pay back large sums at once. To learn more about the methodology of the bank, check out Grameen Bank.

The Grameen Bank currently has 8 million borrowers, an incredible amount. Over $8 billion has been lent to borrowers to have a chance to start businesses without the worry of being financially abused. No credit history is required for the bank, and those who give the loans back late are not sent to court, and do not have their property seized. Still, 97% of the money it has given out has been returned. The main reason Grameen Bank is so successful lies in its principles.

It focuses on creating empowerment within women and other borrowers, as well as independence. The bank has successful created sustainable change in Bangladesh through its microlending, and many have been working their way out of poverty with the help of the bank. Women, who use Grameen Bank, in the past, have been refused loans from other banks because they were poor, or because the bank wanted to lend to their husbands – yet Grameen Bank has a 97% success rate.

Unfortunately, Grameen Bank is at risk of being changed and reformatted by the government, by kicking out its all-female board of directors, and depriving most of the current borrowers from future loans. Nonetheless, even if Grameen Bank is changed, it will not be the end. Indeed, Grameen Bank should serve as an inspiration to other countries as a potential way to reduce poverty.

Micro-loans have already shown to be wildly successful in developing countries, but creating a government-supported bank that focus on helping the poor through loans could really make a difference in multiple countries. Overall, this may be the end of Grameen Bank, but it certainly is far from the end of the fight against poverty, and the ingenious use of microloans.

On June 15th, activists Wajeha Al-Huwaider and Fawzia Al-Oyouni were sentenced to 10 months in jail and a two year travel restriction thereafter. The women were found guilty of “takhbib” or interfering in a marriage. On July 12th, Ms. Al-Huwaider and Ms. Al-Oyouni filed an appeal.

Ms. Al-Huwaider and Ms. Al-Oyouni are prominent women’s rights activists in the country. Some believe the arrests and convictions are a result of Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on prominent rights activists. Ms. Al-Huwaider gained notoriety in 2008 when she posted a video of herself driving a car in Saudi Arabia, a criminal activity in that country. She was also listed in the 100 Most Powerful Arab Women of 2012. Ms. Al-Huwaider is also the co-founder of the Saudi women’s rights group the Association for the Protection and Defense of Women’s Rights.

Joe Stork, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch believes Saudi Arabia is cracking down on rights activists. While King Abdulla has appeared supportive, reforms supporting women’s rights have not been as far reaching as some would like to see. He has appointed thirty women to serve on the Shura Council and women will be allowed to participate in municipal elections. These milestones mark the first opportunity women have had to hold public office in Saudi Arabia.

However, these are very small reforms. The Shura Council advises on legislation but does not make laws. It is yet to be seen how municipal elections turn out and whether any women are able to garner enough votes or even run. The elections are scheduled for 2015.

While Saudi women have experienced a leap forward in the workforce; there is still progress to be made. King Abdullah announced that stores catering to women (jewelry, lingerie, clothing etc.) will not be staffed by females. Even though only 17 percent of Saudi women participate in the workforce, 60 percent of college graduates are female. Mr. Khalid AlKhudair launched Glowork in 2012, the first all-women online recruitment company in the Kingdom. Mr. AlKhudair recognizes the benefits of being a man campaigning for women’s rights rather than a female in this position. As a man his company and his voice is taken more seriously in the country.

Despite these reforms, Ms. Al-Huwaider and Ms. Al-Oyouni are unlikely to have their appeal granted. Gaining grassroots support for the two women is difficult given the restrictions on female movement and communication in the country.

In the Yefag kebale (ward), a small village in northern Ethiopia, women are being trained in gender-responsive planning and budgeting that ensures both men and women beneficiaries are able to contribute to discussions regarding the use and distribution of resources. The training, provided by the NGO Poverty Action Network of Ethiopia (PANE) and supported by UN Women, is enabling women to analyze government plans and budgets for their kebale, and make sure that the needs of men and women are equally prioritized and served.

PANE unites Ethiopian residents and international charities in the goal of reducing poverty and creating sustainable development through the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). PANE increases public awareness of the MDGs and encourages the formation of partnerships with community, regional, national and international organizations in order to meet the goals.

In Ethiopia, PANE has worked to educate women about financial budgeting and planning, and encourages them to identify priority areas in their communities. For the women in the Yefag kebale, one issue that has been highlighted is water. In Ethiopia, only 36 percent of the population has access to a source of drinking water within a 30-minute walk. For the huge number women and girls who are responsible for collecting water, the long walk to collect water, often through isolated and muddy paths, leaves them vulnerable to attacks and sexual violence.

In the Yefag kebale, 11 water spots serve the population of about 3,000. There is a committee for managing each spot, including deciding on its location, design, access and maintenance fees. Melkam Embiale, representative of the women of the village, explains that when all the committee members were men, they did not understand the requirements for the water spots because they were not responsible for carrying the water. “Before, women’s perspectives were not taken into account in the planning and budgeting process,” said Melkam. But recently, women have secured three of out seven seats on every water committee, enabling them to be able to crucially analyze the needs of the community. “The selected women push for our agenda, which is to construct the water spots closer to the village,” says Melkam.

When women have the ability to make decisions about aspects of community life that directly affect them, it positively impacts that whole community. By acknowledging the importance of women’s role in the economy, the Yefag kebale is taking steps to overturn patriarchal structures. Working from the success of this small village, PANE plans to expand its gender-responsive budgeting initiative to more communities in the region. The program also looks to move up through local structures to the national government, in order to open dialogues with decision-makers at the senior level. “Now we participate at the kebale level, but we want to participate at the district level as well,” says Melkam, suggesting that she and the other women in her village are not planning to stop any time soon.

This past July, Family Planning 2020, an initiative aiming to increase accessibility to family planning services in developing countries, celebrated its one-year anniversary. Sponsored by the United Kingdom, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Family Planning 2020, or FP2020, is working with governments around the globe to ensure that 120 million more women in the world have access to family planning aid by 2020. Convening at the London Summit for Family Planning last year, governments, sponsors, donors, civil societies, and private sector representatives laid out a goal-based timeline for success.

FP2020 targets the poorest countries in the world. Today, more than 200 million of women in developing countries want to avoid pregnancy but lack access to family planning and contraceptives. What FP2020 aims to do for these women is provide much needed information, services, and mechanisms for family planning. Over 20 governments worldwide are committed to the initiative, among them the governments of India, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and Kenya.

As July 11th – World Population Day as well as the anniversary date of the London Summit – approached, FP2020 partners were applauded for their progress and were encouraged to keep moving forward. Since the FP2020 London Summit last year, Zambia has seen the promising creation of a national strategy that has brought religious, tribal, and community leaders into the conversation of improving family planning services and accessibility to contraceptives in all areas of the country. In Sierra Leone, the government has funneled significant funds towards its health and family planning sectors. In Nigeria, FP2020 partners are working to open clinics in strategic areas that will serve people within a 12-mile radius, improving accessibility to family planning services. Other partner nations are undertaking similar initiatives.

The future of FP2020 gleams with the hope of improving lives for millions of women in the developing world. In the words of the director of the FP2020 project, Valerie DeFillipo, “The global community is recommitted and re-energized. We as individuals have the power to ensure that women’s autonomy over health-related decisions is a fundamental right, not a privilege.”

Last week, Washington welcomed 30 small and medium-sized female business owners from 27 countries in Africa, who are participants in the African Women’s Entrepreneur Program (AWEP). Every year, 30 female entrepreneurs are invited to the U.S. to attend professional development meetings and network with U.S. policy makers, companies, industry associations, nonprofit groups, and multilateral development organizations. For the past two weeks, the women have traveled throughout the U.S. to meet with scores of professionals in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle.

The visit marks three years of success for AWEP, which was launched by the U.S. Department of State in July 2010. The program is an outreach, education, and engagement initiative that works with African women entrepreneurs in several main focus areas. AWEP supports the Presidential Policy Directive on U.S. strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa by operating on two parallels: it spurs economic growth and trade by involving female entrepreneurs in the sector, and promotes opportunity and development throughout the continent for women and youth.

The Department of State acknowledges that supporting growth in Africa is economically and politically vital; doing so opens up trade to U.S. markets and creates positive business environments both at home and abroad. In addition, AWEP helps to empower women in their respective countries; in Africa, women are the backbone of communities, and by enabling them to utilize their economic power, the program is helping to reduce the gender gap in education and improve health, political participation and economic inclusion.

The women in the program include Mame Diene from Senegal, whose organic cosmetics and nutraceuticals company, Bioessence Laboratories, employs almost 4,000 people. The visit to Washington enabled Ms. Diene and her peers to discuss business growth and female empowerment in Africa. When the women return to their countries, they join AWEP chapters where they can connect with other successful businesswomen; by building networks, the initiative is enabling these women to become voices for social advocacy in their communities.

AWEP is a prime example of U.S. commitment to foreign investment in developing regions. Globally, women constitute 50% of the global population and 40% of the global workforce, yet they own just 1% of the world’s wealth. By providing a platform from which women can effectively run their own businesses, AWEP is resulting in positive economic, social and political changes that are beneficial for the U.S. both abroad and at home.